Mumble
Mumble is the main protagonist of the ''Happy Feet'' franchise. He is a male emperor penguin who is the son of Memphis and Norma Jean, the mate of Gloria and the father of Erik. He is unique in that he is the only emperor penguin to not have a heartsong, and the first to be able to tap dance. Information ''Happy Feet Mumble is first seen as an egg, which is handed off to Memphis by Norma Jean. During his incubation, he is dropped and briefly exposed to the environment's sub-zero temperatures, before being picked back up. This dropping may be a contribution to his being different later on in the film. Memphis worries when his egg does not hatch when everyone else's does. When Maurice, Memphis's friend came by with his new daughter Gloria, she spotted the egg, who taps on it and recieves a response from inside. Two feet emerge from the egg and start to walk off; the chick gets his name when Gloria playfully addresses him as "Mr. Mumble." Mumble is shown to be an excellent dancer from the moment he hatches, though everyone fails to see this and assume that there is something wrong with his feet. While Mumble attends school, he is discovered to be lacking a Heartsong, which is said to be very important for being a proper penguin. In fact, he has a terrible singing voice, which does not improve despite him being sent to Mrs. Astrakhan, the best singing teacher. As a result Mumble is teased, and his mother worries that he will never find a mate and spend his life alone. But a defiant Memphis objects, saying that their son will grow up to be normal after strengthening his "singing muscles". Having his dancing being looked down upon, Mumble finds a place to dance where no one can see him. He is discovered by and escapes from a group of hungry skuas, one of which who claims to have been abducted by aliens. Intrigued by the thought of aliens and worlds beyond his own, Mumble becomes lost in his imagination instead of paying attention in school. At the graduation party, Mumble's friend Gloria sings "Somebody to Love" for everyone, but Mumble gets so caught up with the music, that he himself tries to sing. His out-of-tune singing, causes the other penguins to chuck him out. The next day, Mumble is sleeping on an ice float, initially, he though it was his friends, until he started being chased by a leopard seal. The leopard seal chases him, and he eventually ends up where the Adélie Penguins live. He finds a group of penguins who call themselves the Amigos, who are led by Ramón. They taunted the leopard seal, until he gave up and flopped away. The Amigos show Mumble where they live. Everyone was singing and dancing, and they use some of their newly learned tap dancing to impress some female penguins, to no avail. Mumble notices that some of the penguins there were carrying around rocks. He mistakenly assumed that the male penguin was going to eat it, until the Amigos told him it was a lovestone, for getting a mate. Mumble and the Amigos are walking and dancing, when the piece of ice Mumble was dancing on breaks, and he falls down a steep mountain. The Amigos note, "This guy is so accidentally cool!" and jump after him. After sliding down the icy mountain, the Amigos and Mumble fall into the ocean, where a piece of ice breaks off and releases a bull-dozer, which intrigues Mumble. The Amigos advise him to talk to Lovelace, a guru penguin. Lovelace has plastic rings from a six-pack-soda-can around his neck, which he claims the mystic beings gave to him. After asking many questions, and not having any answered, Lovelace decides to stop answering questions for the day. ".]]Mumble and the Amigos head to Emperor-Land where it is mating season. Mumble tries to impress Gloria but he knows he can't sing, so Ramon hides behind Mumble and sings to Gloria. She doesn't fall for it and at first rejects him, but when he dances to her heartsong, she realizes they are meant for each other, and many other penguins dance with them. Unfortunately, the elders see the penguins' antics and Noah banishes Mumble for not changing his ways. He returns to Lovelace now determined to find out information about the fish shortage and wants to speak with the "aliens". After discovering that his talisman was never given to him by a mystic beings, and that Lovelace is suffocating, he goes to find the aliens for help. Mumble, the amigos, and Lovelace travel far and they reunite with Gloria, who Mumble convinces to leave for her safety, and they also meet elephant seals who warn them of the "alien annihilators". When they reach the Forbidden Shore, killer whales attack, and Lovelace gets his talisman off his neck in the process. Fishing ships come to the forbidden shore and the penguins watch them plunder fish. Mumble follows the ship leaving his friends behind. He eventually washes up on a beach and gets put in a zoo where he's surrounded by humans who can't understand his cries about the fish. After three months, a little girl communicates with Mumble by tapping on the aquarium glass and Mumble responds by dancing where his tap dancing attracts worldwide attention. The humans return Mumble to Emperor-Land where he reunites with Gloria, the amigos, and his parents. He convinces half of the penguins to dance for the humans, (the other half chant with the elders in defiance) who arrive in a helicopter. Soon all the penguins dance for the humans, who take footage of them and the United Nations decide to protect the penguins' food supply. In the end all is well. Mumble gets back together with Gloria and becomes a hero. All of Emperor-Land dances with Mumble. As a side note, a chick dancing in the end of the film is said to be Mumble and Gloria's child Erik in ''Happy Feet Two. ''Happy Feet Two In ''Happy Feet Two, Mumble was now mated with Gloria and has a son named Erik. He is first seen at the Opening Medley when he was tap dancing and sing "Let's dance, LET'S SHOUT!!!!!!!" as the Emperors were saying "Mumble!", Mumble say "Sorry" to them. Then, Gloria was dancing and coming to Mumble and he faced the other way. He tap dance to Gloria as the emperors continue dancing. He first asks Erik about dancing together. But Erik falls and get embarased by the other chicks. Erik faults his father Mumble for making him join the dance. Erik, with his two friends, Atticus and Bo, follow Ramón to Adélie-Land. This makes Mumble worried about all of them. Then Mumble goes to Adélie-Land to search for the kids. He finds them with the Amigos and their leader Ramón. Mumble is forced to bring the kids to home. Erik, who is reluctant to go, still has a "penguin" named Sven in his thoughts and almost forgets his father. On the way home, Mumble meets an elephant seal named Bryan. Bryan blocking the path across the fissure and he doesn't want to back up away from the crossing so Mumble can go home. Bryan then falls and brings the crossing with him. Mumble saves Bryan after seeing his children. After he saving his life, Mumble, Erik, Bo, and Atticus continue their way to Emperor-Land. Things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Emperor-Land is trapped by a massive glacier of ice and snow. Mumble asks Bo to bring as many Adélie penguins as she can. The Adélies arrive with their "leader", The Mighty Sven. Mumble and Sven want to bring Erik's attention to themselves to prove one of them can save Emperor-Land. Mumble saves his home by bring the elephant seals to "tapdance" on ice, making enough snow and ice fall to create a sort of stairway to the top of the glacier. Other Roles ''A Happy Feet Moment In the 30-second ''Happy Feet short when Mumble is looking into his reflection, Memphis shows up as he is kicking the crud out of Mumble for no apparently reason. Once the penguin has demonstrated his football skills with Mumble as the ball, he kicks him off into the sea to score a “goal” and says "Yea". Video Games ''Happy Feet: The Videogame In ''Happy Feet: The Videogame, Mumble appears as the main protagonist in all levels. Appearance As a Chick When Mumble is born, he resembles a normal baby Emperor Penguin, except for having bright, blue eyes, as opposed to the brown eyes on everyone else. During and after his encounter with the Boss Skua, he is seen with a clump of dark feathers on his neck that resemble a light grey patch with a bow-tie. As a Teen/Adult As a Teen, Mumble looks like a baby penguin. His grey feathers when baby appear and closing half of his body. But still has light blue eyes, Black and white feathers, and normal emperor penguin beak and feet. But he has a bow in front of his neck and has three black spots on his leg feathers that give the appearence of spats. His grey feathers resemble a vest. When he matures into a young adult, his baby feathers have failed to shed, but he has mostly molted near the end of the film. He has a split tail from being bitten by a leopard seal. The yellow feathers on his neck resemble a bow-tie as well. In Happy Feet Two, Mumble regains his baby feathers, black and white feathers, normal beak and feet, light blue eyes, and bow in front of his neck. But there is some differences, he also has a brighter tail, feathers and eyes. The reason for this is most likely to keep his trademark look. His difference in appearance from other Emperor Penguins (along with his inability to sing) may be interpreted as birth defects, since he was dropped as an egg. Tuxedo theme Mumble's plumage resembles a tuxedo with spats, formal clothing for men that's associated with the traditional tap dancer image, made popular by well-known dancers, like Fred Astaire. The most notable feature of Mumble's "outfit" is the bow tie-shaped mark on his chest, which is gray as a chick and yellow as an adult. His adult plumage sports markings on his feet that resemble spats, and white lines on his flippers resembling cuffs. While Mumble is escaping the hungry leopard seal in the original film, it splits his tail in half, making it resemble coat tails. ''Happy Feet'' Books Several Happy Feet books depict Mumble without his downy feathers by the climax of the story. This is because until late in the first movie's production, it was intended for Mumble to lose his down feathers during his pursuit of the fishing fleet. However, it was decided that Mumble would keep half of his juvenile down throughout the story, to make him different to the other emperor penguins. Mumble's black feathers on his upper chest resemble a black tuxedo, and the white stripes on his flippers resemble cuffs. For more information, click here. Personality Mumble is shown to be kind and friendly, as well as shy, but he can also be extremely brave when a situation calls for it. This is shown when he retrives a fish he caught for Gloria from several skua, and when he chases an alien ship into the unknown in hopes of finding the fish that are being taken from his home. In Happy Feet Two, Mumble is very caring towards his new son, Erik, although the two have trouble seeing eye-to-eye and gaining each other's favor throughout the sequel. Frustrated, Mumble even yells at Erik at one point, which upsets Erik greatly. By the end of the film, though, the two seem to have resolved their conflicts. Relationships Gloria From the start, Mumble is shown to admire Gloria very much. When they are in school together, he finds her singing voice to be wonderful, and when Mumble himself is revealed to be a terrible singer, Gloria tries to stop the other kids from teasing him. Mumble's status as an "outcast" often tests their relationship in Happy Feet. When Mumble unintentionally annoys everyone during the class' graduation party, she does not convey any annoyance with him, and kindly tries to tell him to keep out of everyone's way. Mumble goes to great lengths to impress Gloria and drive her away from danger. She initially does not understand Mumble's dancing, but she does not disapprove of it. When Mumble tries to impress Gloria by pretending to be able to sing, this embarrasses her, but her Heartsong, "Boogie Wonderland", is revealed to go quite well with Mumble's tap dancing. When Mumble is exiled from Emperor-Land, Gloria strongly objects, and eventually catches up with him on his quest to find the aliens. Knowing that his quest is dangerous, Mumble purposely starts an argument with her and upsets her to the point of leaving in a huff. Mumble feels bad about this, but knows he did the right thing. Eventually, Mumble returns to Emperor-Land, and convinces Gloria and everyone else to dance with him so the aliens will see and help them. Having succeeded in this, Mumble is praised and he and Gloria are free to be together. By the end of the film and sequel, they become proper mates and have a son. Ramón and the Amigos Mumble first met Ramón when he was chased by a leopard seal and follow him to Adélie-Land with the Amigos. Over time, they become good friends. And Mumble was assisted by Ramón, with the singing for him to draw attention to Gloria. In Happy Feet Two, Ramón and the Amigos comes for Mumble to help him feed the trapped Emperors. Lovelace In Happy Feet, Lovelace hates Mumble, who he thinks he is the one of doubts his power. But then, Mumble go ask him altrough Lovelace hates him. Mumble just trying to helping him. Like saving him from the Killer Whales. Lovelace seems have to proud with him after being saved. And will telling his story, Happy Feet. In Happy Feet Two, Mumble and Lovelace it's little known about their relationships. It's seems Mumble meets The Adelies with Ramón, Lovelace, and Sven in there. Mumble also ever trying to saving him from falling with trapped Emperor Penguins. Norma Jean Mumble's relationship with Norma Jean, is very good. Norma Jean feels sorry to see him suffer by being cast out of Emperor-Land. She also says she likes "different", reffering to Mumbles abillity to to dance when the family leaves Mrs. Astrakhan's singing class. She is known to be someone who Mumble trusts, and she believes he can find the fishes and come back to Emperor-Land. Memphis Mumble and his father are not to be closer after his father, Memphis, was embarrased by his son who being the only penguin who can't sing. Because of his "Happy Feet", he feels suffer and can't try to begin trust with him. Mumble was not feel suffer after hear what his father say. He just trying to make his Happy Feet will make Memphis be happy. "But it just ain't penguin," was Memphis's saying. Noah the Elder Mumble first time meet Noah, he feels hurt after expressed as a wasted. Noah trying to make Mumble being outcast from community beacuse he is the one that he think as a penguin without goodness. But after he heard Mumble is back again to help him dancing to humans, Noah forgetting his event that his do for Mumble and starting to dance. Then at Happy Feet Two, Noah say about dancing will being characteristic for the Emperors now, it's from Mumble too. Erik Mumble's relationship with Erik it's not a good one at the begining of the film. He tried to encourage his son to dance, but Erik's accident made him distrust of his father. After Erik met Sven in Adelie-Land, he distanced even more from Mumble, and after the argue that they had when Erik tried to fly and almost fall from the Doomberg, their bonds of father and son seemed broken and irreparable. But then, Sven confessed that he was not a penguin, but a puffin. When Mumble and the other penguins were able to break a piece of the Doomberg, Erik almost fall from it, but Mumble saved him again, injuring his foot in the process. From that on, Erik began to forgive his father, and when Bryan betrayed Mumble and told him to get out of his kingdom, he finally undertood the courage of his father. He then sang "Erik's Opera" and the elephants seals, touched by this so passionated song, accepted to help Mumble. Sven At the first time, Mumble finds Erik, Atticus and Boadicea in the Adelie-Land seeing "The Amazing Hero Puffin" called "The Mighty Sven". Mumble is jealous and even hate him at the first time. And when he knows Sven is his rival now, Sven is very assisted. He is with the Adelies sending fish to the trapped Emperors. But, Mumble is working alone to go fishing some fish. He jealous with Sven again. It makes Erik supporting him too much as a hero for the Emperors who like him too. Mumble will beating him with calling The elephant seal to help Emperors to getting out from the ice. But then, Mumble also ask Sven for helping. Atticus and Boadicea Atticus and Bo often refers at Mumble as "Uncle Mumble", showing that they have a kind of respect for him (Or It could be too that their parents are close friends of him), but they usually disobey his orders. Seymour Seymour and Mumble's relationship in the first movie is peculiar. Although he and Mumble were rivals because both of them (like most of the male of their generation) wanted Gloria as mate, Seymour never actually said something negative to Mumble. He never said anything about his lack of Heartsong or his "Happy Feet". It seemed that they were friends, but not very close. In Happy Feet Two, they are friends and their chicks (Atticus and Erik) are good friends too. Seymour often refers at Mumble as "Brother", showing that they had developed a close friendship. Seymour didn't seem to be jealous of Mumble being the one who won Gloria's heart, maybe because he found a mate too. However, his mate and mother of Atticus is never showed in the film. Voice Actors *''Happy Feet'' - Elizabeth Daily (baby), Dee Bradley Baker (baby sound effects), Elijah Wood (teen/adult) *''Happy Feet Two'' - Elijah Wood *''Happy Feet: The Videogame - Elizabeth Daily (baby), Elijah Wood (adult) Trivia *Mumble's tap choreography was provided via motion capture by Savion Glover. *Mumble is the one and only penguin who can't sing. But he can do with "Happy Feet" to make a song from the feet. *When Mumble is dancing, look at closer, you can see three spots around his ankle. But sometimes that three spot is disappear. *As a baby, Mumble gets the "bow-tie" when he gets trampeled by Boss Skua (it is probably caused by the skua's sharp claw). But there is an error when he says "Can I appeal to be your better nature?", his bow-tie disappears. Then the bow appears again when he is grown up. * Originally, Mumble's appearance was going to be an adult with no fluff, but this was scrapped before the final cut of the film. But in the books ''Chillin' with Mumble, Happy Feet: The Movie Storybook and Happy Feet: The Essential Guide, he is seen as an adult with no down. *Mumble still like a baby penguin. It can be seen when he grown up, has his grey feathers which closing half of his body. And with the baby face (has the white-colored fathers around his face). *Mumble ever driving Gloria, his own girlfriend. With insulting her heartsong. It's unknown why he do not let her go with him. It's maybe because he worry about her who getting lost, or need to being alone after insulted by the Emperors. But then she likes Mumble again with join to dancing with her. *In Happy Feet Two, he looks being older but has the same voice, different with Seymour, who voiced by Common and Gloria, who voiced by Alecia Moore (Pink), has the older voice like the mostly parents. *Mumble is voiced by Daniel de Oliveria in the Brazillan dub of the movie, and Clovis Cornllac in the French dub. *In the draft, he was the narrator instead of Lovelace being the narrator in the final cut of the first film. **Along with his mother, Mumble is the only character not to have his name changed from the original script. *In the original script for the first movie, an egg rests on Mumble's feet while Gloria goes off with the other females to feed in the ocean, just like Memphis and Norma Jean did in the beginning. 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